So many of us, jump on the hamster wheel of life every day.  We get up, do our morning routine, head off to work, return from work, eat, sleep, repeat.  Mix in some variations here and there, a dinner out, a weekend away, a new someone to follow on Instagram (you get the idea) and I have pretty much described everyone’s life.  Until you have awakened from the dream, or have a midlife crisis and wonder, is this all life is about?  

I recently led an 8-week workshop, entitled “Holding Space for Health.”  I have held variations on this theme for a couple of years now but this time, I decided to approach it slightly differently.  In the past, weight loss was a motivating factor for most.  This time, health was the emphasis.  While the four rules were still in place (weigh yourself every day, no alcohol, keep a food journal, and exercise), I didn’t have any other guidelines.  Whatever came up in the group is what was discussed.  And a curious thing happened.  While most attendees had wanted to lose a few pounds (and they did), the emphasis went from that objective, to self-care.  Once they realized how much better they felt by moving their bodies, avoiding alcohol, and making healthier food choices, they all left the program feeling empowered and ready to continue with the changes they had made in their lives.   Any one of them may have done this on their own, but the group dynamic allowed for other people’s thoughts and perspectives to come in and participants could take that information in, calibrate how it mattered to them, whether it was relevant, thought-provoking or was the catalyst for even another idea, and decide to change or not.  This group interrupted their normal behavior, their hamster wheel approach to life and it changed their lives.  They changed their thoughts and their lives changed.   Now instead of the daily mission of making it through their day, their mission became, how do I make my day to include healthier, growth mindset changes?  They began to curate their days to include exercise (becoming a top priority), food preparation (to fuel their days), questioning that routine drink at the end of the day, the healthy habit of getting on the scale to keep a closer eye on unwanted weight gain not to mention some gratitude, creativity, and mindfulness sprinkled in.  

If we go about our days, without much thought, there isn’t much room for growth.  You need to make a conscious effort to seek out a new way to think about something.  You need to stop the typical neural pathway reactions and do something differently.  You can’t grow or change if you don’t stop to give some thought to the growth or the changes you want in life.  With thought comes the awareness of a bad habit (no exercise), or the enrichment of a good habit (trying a new healthy food).  

You must think differently in order to change, or not.